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Cache Hiding Ethics

This post is motivated by caches I have done in the past and a few I have heard about and have been on my mind. A few descriptions I have altered to protect the cache from being spoiled. A few have been done by people I have met and like, and nothing stated here is anything personally against them. But some hiding practices just don't set well with me.

When do we go too far in hiding caches?

We've all encountered a rock wall that we worry has been compromised by cachers looking, moving stones to verify a cache is not hidden behind it.

Ever seen those plastic information signs, often screwed to the top of a post? Imagine a log sheet in a ziplock, under that sign, and you have to unscrew the screws holding the sign to find and access it.

How about a steel barrier post, in which the cap has to be pulled off or setscrews loosened to access the cache, and the cache is glued to the underside of the cap.

And then there is the multi cemetery cache, in which one of the stages takes you right to a tombstone. Not feeling right about it, but quite certian you are right, you lift of the top piece of the tombstone, revealing coordinates written underneath.

And then there is the light pole/electrical access box cache. Weren't any of us taught to always treat such devices as live and not open them?

How about taking a bolt out of a bridge, taking it home, and modiifing it to hold a logbook? The finder would also have to unsrcew the bolt to sign the log.

Finding these types of caches dampens my excitement in finding them. They can be very clever, but should be we tampering with stuff that does not belong to us?

I dont think we should be placing caches were we have to remove parts of equipment not intended to be removed. Not only will it likely loosen the parts, but it encourages cachers to tear things apart at the next cache when they don't spot it in the correct location.

In the case of the tombstone, you are risking dropping and breaking it, and what if it's the wrong stone? And still, we're encouraging a cacher to assume they have to do that at the next cache. We have done one cemetery cache where the final was in a bucket of flowers at the grave site, but at least they made it quite clear in the description what we were looking for.

As far as the light poles / electrical boxes (and I don't want to discuss the lameness factor here), we are taught not to tamper with electrical equipment, and try to teach out kids the same. Yet, we will take them to get a cache in one. Suppose they will think every electrical box or light pole they come to has a cache?

Yah the cemetery was to much. Inside the cemetery in my eyes is always off limits, I thought that GC.com even states that. I just read GC,com guide lines and they say :Caches that deface public or private property, whether a natural or man-made object, in order to provide a clue or a logging method.
Caches placed on archaeological or historical sites. In most cases these areas are highly sensitive to the extra traffic that would be caused by vehicles and humans. So I think the the cemeteries fall here. I dont beleive it is ever a good idea to take bolts out of something to hide a cache. I have seen a couple of great micros in the past 2 months that have changed my perspective about them. Most of the ones I have done havent really impressed me, but I must say that laughing terrys are very cool. Even a couple of them that might fall into what you are talking about here. As for the places that we shouldn't be taking apart things to find them. Well, I think that the owner should make that clear in there cache page. However we as cachers should be smart enough to know when to much is just to much and walk away. After that you could send a note to the reveiwer and I'm sure he will have something to say about it. He has been great everytime I have contacted him.

RE: Cache hiding ethics.......

brdad I couldn't agree more!!! Gone are the days when caches brought you to senic places, places in your own back yard that you never knew existed. It would be tough today to make one of your scenic cd's from a lot of the new caches. Just how many guardrails and light poles can you photograph before they all become the same?

Common sense would dictate that even if it's in a public place, if the custodian of that place would say "no", then you wouldn't do it. The dilemma for me is whether I would keep searching for a cache that is questionable like that.

I've got three caches "at" a cemetery. In two of the cases however the cemeteries are rarely used (old ones) and the cache is right outside of the cemetery so cachers should have no need to be poking around headstones and turning up the earth in the cemetery . . . and it should go without saying that if for some reason someone is there paying respects to a relative or if there is a graveside service going on (although rare) one would hope the cacher would respect this and move on to another cache.

I only have one cache that is in a cemetery . . . but it brings the cacher to a stone where they use the read out from gc.com to answer some specific questions to get the coords for the physical cache located some distance away. This cache was also done specifically in memory of the four people who died that day.

This said, I have been very fortunate to not encounter most of what you mentioned Brdad . . . if what you say is happening it truly is not a good thing for the State of Maine and the geocaching experience in general.

Now, Laughing Terry's In Plain Sight caches on the other hand and your Old 470 cache are classics -- they frustrate me to no end, but cause no damage to the structures, blend in seamlessly and require no tool to access . . . plus I suspect one of LT's caches may be improving the cache area thanks to his donation.

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the realization that there is something more important than fear."

Personally, I don't dissaprove of cemetery caches if done tastefully. If I am buried there and have no consiousness and someone walks by, then I don't care. And if I do have conciousness, I'm glad people come to visit me since I'd have a hard time getting around then.

I've only done one right in plain sight cache, and have no problem with that since it can be found with no damage to the structure, and as I recall, the description implies somethign of that nature.